


i’m standing where the lightning strikes

by eponnia



Category: HUGO Victor - Works, Les Misérables & Related Fandoms, Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Christmas, Cosette And Enjolras Are Siblings, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Foster Care, Implied/Referenced Character Death, New Year's Eve, POV Female Character, Slow Burn, United States
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-11 12:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8980351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eponnia/pseuds/eponnia
Summary: Spending her last year of foster care with the Valjean family, Éponine is hoping her remaining time in the system and high school will at least be bearable. Then Cosette's older brother comes home from college, and both Enjolras and Éponine's soulmate marks… change.





	1. August 27 - September 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are about eight AUs going on in this (modern; set in New Orleans, Louisiana; foster care; Enjolras-and-Cosette-are-siblings; Cosette-and-Enjolras-are-Valjean-and-Fantine's-biological-children; soulmate-identifying marks; high-school-student/younger!Éponine and college-student/older!Enjolras). On top of everything else, for the sake of this fic, pretend that Enjolras is actually a first name. 
> 
> So the way this particular soulmate-identifying marks system works, each person as a mark in the shape of an animal representing their soulmate on their wrist. So the mark _representing_ Cosette is a lark; but Cosette doesn't have the lark on her wrist. Marius has it on his.
> 
> This fic is based on the 2012 film with a healthy dose of Hugo. The title is from Landon Austin's _Once In A Lifetime_ , which really, really suits the whole soulmate AU thing. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this, and God bless.

* * *

_August 27 - September 7_

* * *

"And this is your room," Cosette says, opening the door.

Éponine pauses in the hall, old duffel bag weighing down her shoulder. "I'm not bunking in your room or something? Or the couch? This is…" She swallows hard. "Mine?"

"Yes."

Only then does Éponine step over the threshold, trying not to openly gape at the spacious room and the walk-in closet _and her own bathroom_ and everything she'd only dreamed about. "Thank you," she says belatedly, placing her old duffel bag on the wood floor and carefully perching on the edge of the soft mattress, the comforter rustling.

Cosette only smiles and says, "I'll leave you to get settled."

In her absence, Éponine methodically unpacks her bag in the same way she has unpacked in all of her previous foster homes. But Louisiana already seems to be different, because she will not be sharing a tiny room or sleeping on a couch older than she is. She hangs up her wrinkled clothes in the closet larger than entire rooms she's stayed in before, sets her three ratted books on the desk, puts her cracked hairbrush in _her_ _own bathroom_ and wonders if she has enough cash to buy foundation. She knows she shouldn't waste her small wad of money on something as frivolous as makeup; she had purchased some six months ago, but in her previous home her then-foster brother stole it out of spite and she hadn't dared to ask her then-foster parents to buy another. Though her new foster family looks like they have enough to spare for a single case of foundation, she isn't going to bring it up. Cosette and her father seem nice enough, but Éponine knows not to ask.

Out of habit, she pulls back her sleeve to look at the mark on the inside of her wrist. But the black lion representing her soulmate isn’t silver, and it isn’t burning on her skin.

It is same as it has always been.

* * *

"Enjolras texted me and said that he’s coming home next weekend," Cosette says over spaghetti. At Éponine's confused look, the blonde adds, "Enjolras is my brother. He's studying journalism at Louisiana State in Baton Rouge."

"I understand you have siblings yourself, Éponine," Valjean says kindly.

She focuses on idly twirling the pasta on her fork, not lifting her gaze from her china plate. "A sister and three brothers."

"When did you see them last?" Cosette asks carefully.

"My sister, a year ago. My brothers…" Éponine bites her lip. "Gavroche, a year and a half. Hugues, two years, and Bressole, almost three." She doesn't add that her youngest brothers probably don't remember her.

"I can try to arrange for you to see your siblings, if you would like," Valjean offers, and to Éponine's embarrassment, her eyes well with tears. "We could fly out to see them. Meet over the summer, perhaps?"

"Really?" Her voice cracks as she stares at her foster father, and almost asks _why_ , but stops herself. _Don't push your luck, Thénardier. You know full well that he can take back his words just as quickly as offering them._

"I don't know how successful I will be, and it may take some time, but I will do my best," Valjean promises.

Éponine focuses once again on her spaghetti, not trusting herself to say any more than murmuring her thanks.

* * *

She's started at new schools many times before, but it helps that she and Cosette have almost the same exact schedules.

Except the first class of the day.

Éponine sits in the back, hoping no one will approach her, but a freckled, auburn-haired, lanky teenager takes the desk right next to her. He smiles at her, and even though the mark on her wrist doesn't burn silver, she smiles back.

"I haven't seen you around before," he says. "Are you new?"

"Yep," she says, and mentally kicks herself for her lame answer.

"I'm Marius."

"Éponine."

The strict government and economics teacher, Javert, intimidates her – though she refuses to show it – but sharing glances with Marius helps pass the time. He even walks her to her locker, and they are laughing about something when her foster sister approaches. Then Marius puts an arm around the blonde's shoulders, and his sleeve shifts.

"I see you've met Éponine," Cosette says, but Éponine is internally panicking, because only a few minutes ago she was kind of flirting with Cosette's _soulmate_. The lark on Marius' wrist representing Cosette is silver, and when her foster sister slips her arm around his waist, Cosette's sleeve rides up and Éponine sees the symbol of Marius on Cosette's skin.

The Labrador Retriever is silver.

"Uh, yeah," Éponine blurts out. "We have government together."

"What do you think of Javert?" Marius asks.

"He's… intense," she supplies.

“By the way, he lives next door to us,” Cosette comments, and Éponine stares at her. “He and Dad were roommates in college. They didn't exactly get along.” The five minute bell rings, and the blonde lowers her voice. “And they still don't, honestly.” With a smile, she says brightly, "Ready for history class?"

* * *

The weekend finally arrives, and Éponine can breathe a small sigh of relief. She still has to interact with Cosette, but at least for two days she doesn't have to be constantly reminded by Marius’ presence that she is nearly developing a crush on someone else’s _soulmate_. Which is not something civilized people do. But Cosette's older brother is coming home from Louisiana State on Saturday, and Éponine hopes that she will be distracted enough to stop thinking about Marius and high school and her faux pas.

She stands with Valjean and watch through the open front door as Cosette hugs her admittedly very attractive older brother on the front steps, downtown New Orleans shining in the distance. Once the door is shut behind them and they all stand together in the foyer, Cosette's brother extends a hand.

"I'm Enjolras."

"Éponine," she says right as she grasps his hand. Then her wrist _burns_.

She jerks her hand back, shoving her sleeve up to see the black lion on her skin turning silver. Éponine looks up in shock at Enjolras, who is staring at her with an unreadable expression as the wolf on his wrist changes to the same hue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Enjolras isn't studying law in a fic? (Cue a distant gasp from the fandom). 
> 
> Now, Enjolras-is-a-law-student is definite fanon and may be canon in The Brick depending on how you look at it. But if I'm changing this many things in this fic, I thought I'd be even more creative and have Enjolras pursue a journalism degree. I think he would _love_ exposing government corruption/publishing his views/inspiring the public through a newspaper.


	2. September 7 – December 14

* * *

_September 7 – December 14_

* * *

Éponine almost doesn't go to dinner that night, but as she sits at the table she wishes she had just claimed having a mountain of homework and eaten in her room. Enjolras, silent and stone faced, sits across from her as Cosette and Valjean try to start a conversation, but their attempts fall flat. When Enjolras passes the bread to his father, Éponine catches a glimpse of the silver wolf on Enjolras' skin as the sleeve of his red sweater moves slightly up his arm, and she immediately looks down at her plate.

Éponine is loading the dishwasher with Cosette when Enjolras walks into the kitchen with a determined countenance. Éponine freezes and seriously considers bolting, especially when Cosette offers to give them space to talk, but her brother asks her to stay.

“I don't want,” Enjolras says to Éponine, “you to feel pressured or forced into… this.”

She looks down at the tiles on the floor.

He clears his throat. “How old are you?” She risks a glance at him, and sees him run a hand through his golden curls, closing his eyes for a moment.

“Seventeen.” Enjolras meets her gaze as she answers. “I'll be eighteen in December.”

"Look." Enjolras pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes again with a sigh. "Since you are underage, I suggest we leave… interactions for another time. As in, _after_ you turn eighteen." His eyes fly open, and his usually measured speech quickly tumbles from his tongue. "And by interactions, I don't mean - I wouldn't - I'm not going to-" He runs a hand through his hair again. "That was a _very_ poor word choice on my part. I sincerely apologize."

Éponine can only blush in response.

"I suggest," Valjean says from the doorway, where Éponine had not previously noticed him observing the conversation, "that you take time apart until Éponine turns eighteen."

"Of course," Enjolras says immediately as Éponine draws in a breath through her nose. "That is what I was attempting to say, with little success on my part. Usually I am not this inarticulate." He looks from his father to Éponine. "I swear on everything I hold dear that I will keep my distance from you until your birthday. And afterwards, if you want. And," Enjolras adds, "if you feel uncomfortable at any point, tell me."

"Éponine, what do you think?" Cosette interrupts softly.

"I agree with all of this. But." Éponine bites her lip and looks at her foster father. "I don't know if you were planning to, but please don't adopt me. There's enough problems already without being legally related to my soulmate." She can't look at Enjolras, and so focuses on Valjean instead.

The older man nods. "Given the circumstances, I think that would be wise."

Éponine doesn't think she has ever blushed more in her entire life.

* * *

Enjolras leaves the next morning for Louisiana State and only comes home three times during the four-month-long semester.

Éponine finds she's grateful that when he does return to New Orleans, he talks to her only when absolutely necessary. Even on Thanksgiving, the only extended contact they have is by sitting in the same room. School keeps her busy, and she tries not to wonder how simpler her life would be if her soulmate was Marius or at least someone her own age. Her birthday, a snowy December third, passes without a word from Enjolras. She tries not to dwell on his silence.

But then he comes home for Christmas break.

"I'm not staying long," he says over the top of a cardboard box as he steps over the threshold and into the foyer. Passing his family and Éponine, he adds over his shoulder as he heads for the stairs, "I'm just dropping off some things I didn't wanted to leave in my dorm room over the break."

"Do you have anything else to bring in?" Valjean asks.

Enjolras stops, halfway up the stairs, and shifts the weight of the cardboard box. "Nothing to bring in. I've got clothes in a suitcase, but I'm taking it to Combeferre's place. I'm staying with him for Christmas break."

"Enjolras–" Éponine begins, but he's already on the landing.

"I'll be right back down," he says, disappearing around the corner.

Éponine waits with Cosette and Valjean on the couch, picking at the nail polish her foster sister had tried on her. Cosette had started experimenting with Christmas nail art on Pinterest the day after Thanksgiving, and had practiced on Éponine twice already; the blonde had done her own nails four different times. When Enjolras comes back downstairs, Éponine's knee bobs.

"Enjolras, I don't want to kick you out of your own house over Christmas," she says as he sits down on the opposite couch. "I've kept you away long enough during the semester, but over the holidays–"

"It's not a problem," he says sincerely. "I don't want to crowd you."

"Enjolras," she replies firmly, leaning forward, and misses the glance Cosette shares with Valjean. "I am giving you express permission to stay in your own home. And I'm eighteen now, so we might as well actually start talking at some point, if this whole soulmate thing is going to happen."

"You want it to happen?"

She shrugs, feigning nonchalance. "I don't know. But we'll never know if we can't be in the same room together for more than five minutes."

She doesn't look away from his piercing blue eyes as a beat of silence passes. "If you're sure."

She nods. "I'm sure."

Enjolras pulls his iPhone from the pocket of his jeans. "I'll call Combeferre to cancel, then." As he stands and leaves the room, Éponine catches the look Cosette and Valjean exchange.

While watching _White Christmas_ later that evening, she carefully avoids eye contact with Enjolras when Judy Haynes suggests a fake engagement with Phil Davis. When Bob Wallace sings _Counting Your Blessings_ to Betty Haynes and talks about dreaming about blondes and brunettes and liverwurst and buttermilk, Éponine escapes to the kitchen to make more hot chocolate.

But when Betty leaves her sister and Vermont for New York, Éponine's focus turns from Enjolras on the other couch to thoughts of her siblings across the country. While Betty croons _Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me_ , Éponine is looking up the time difference between New Orleans and San Diego and Philadelphia and Miami on Cosette's iPhone. So when Phil and Judy are kissing and Bob and Betty are embracing later in the film, Éponine is mentally calculating when she could call Azelma and Gavroche and Hugues and Bressole over the next few days.

She doesn’t notice Enjolras watching her.

* * *

Éponine goes to her room when Cosette starts another Hallmark movie and dials Azelma's foster parents' San Diego number on Valjean’s iPhone. Éponine picks at her nails until her younger sister's voice comes over the phone.

"Hello?"

"Azelma? It's Éponine."

Her sixteen-year-old sister gasps. "Ép?"

"Yeah," is all Éponine can manage as her throat closes up.

She talks about almost anything she can think of to keep the conversation going until there's a lull in the conversation and Éponine finds herself saying, "I met my soulmate."

"What?"

"And believe it or not, he's my foster brother."

" _What_?"

"His name is Enjolras. He's a sophomore at Louisiana State." Éponine picks at a hole in her jeans. "I don't know him that well. We met in September, before my birthday. He stayed at college for most of the semester to give me space until I became, you know, a legal adult."

"He sounds nice," Azelma says.

"He seems to be, yeah."

A quiet moment passes. "Is he attractive?"

Éponine turns red, even though her sister can't see her and she is alone in her room. "Azelma…"

"It's a valid question.”

Éponine sighs. "Yes," she finally says.

"Well, good. Because you deserve a respectful, attractive soulmate after all you've been though."

" _Azelma_."

"It's true," her sister says seriously. "You lived with Mom and Dad the longest. You deserve something good in your life."

"I barely know him," Éponine protests.

"Well, if he turns out to be a douchebag, I'll fly to New Orleans and we’ll kick his butt together."

"Thanks," Éponine says drily with a smile. After a moment, voice thick, she adds, "I love you, 'Zelma."

"I love you too, Ép."

Éponine blinks tears away as she hangs up the phone.

Her calls to Philadelphia and Miami are shorter. She mentions to Gavroche her news; he firmly says that this Enjolras should treat her well, and Éponine laughs even as her eyes fill with tears. Hugues and Bressole barely know what soulmates are, so she moves onto another, safer topic.

Once she ends the call to Florida, however, she sets down Valjean's iPhone and finally lets herself cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! God bless!


	3. December 14 – December 23

Chapter 3

* * *

_December 14 – December 23_

* * *

Éponine shoves Valjean's iPhone in the pocket of her jeans and splashes her face with water in the sink, but her eyes are still red when she goes downstairs to return the phone. Éponine hopes to pass her foster family without much comment, but Cosette goes so far as to mute the television when she sees the other girl.

"Are you okay?"

Éponine stops, flushing as Valjean and Enjolras stop what they're doing to look at her. As Cosette turns off the television, Éponine forces a smile.

"I just called my sister and brothers."

"Is everything alright?" Valjean asks as she hands him the iPhone.

"Of course," Éponine says, voice thick. "I guess I just got a little, uh, emotional. Nothing to worry about."

She flees into the kitchen, and does not see Enjolras lean towards Valjean.

A few days later at lunch, Valjean clears his throat. "I have an announcement," he says. "We will be doing Christmas differently this year." Éponine exchanges a confused glance with Cosette as he continues. "I have arranged to host all of Éponine's siblings and their foster families here for the holidays."

Éponine can't breathe.

"That's a wonderful idea, Dad," Cosette says brightly.

“I can't take credit for it,” Valjean replies, and looks at his son. “It was Enjolras' suggestion. I just organized it.”

"You're really going to do all that?" Éponine finally manages with a watery voice. "For me?" Her voice cracks as she looks between Enjolras and Valjean. Surely this is a joke, or an elaborate ruse, or a lie to get her hopes up.

"Yes," Valjean says sincerely.

Éponine's eyes well up, and she tries to hide her tears behind her glass of water, noticing Enjolras silently observing her before he looks down at his own plate.

* * *

She stands by the fireplace later that evening, looking at the spines of DVD cases on the bookcase to choose something other than the endless Hallmark movies. But she ends up looking at the picture frames on the mantel instead; as the gas fire flickers, she studies photos of a younger Cosette and a younger Enjolras and a younger Valjean with a beautiful woman. The woman appears in most of the earlier photos, but she isn't present in the later snapshots, such as Enjolras' high school graduation or Cosette in a prom dress with Marius by a limo.

Éponine hears footsteps in the hall, and sees Enjolras approaching. She takes a step back from the fireplace, but he stops to look at the picture frames, and she hesitates.

“If you're wondering, she was our mother,” he explains, looking at the photo of the woman in the hospital bed, holding a newborn Cosette as Valjean looks on with a two-year-old Enjolras. “Her name was Fantine.”

Éponine has no idea what to say.

“She died of lung cancer when I was ten,” Enjolras adds quietly. “Cosette was eight.”

“I'm so sorry,” Éponine manages, but Enjolras doesn't reply.

“My parents died in a car accident,” she finds herself saying. “I was fourteen.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.”

Éponine shrugs. “I'm not too cut up about now. They were pathetic excuses for parents. My siblings and I probably would have ended up in the system anyway.” She meets Enjolras' piercing blue gaze. “Well, now we know something personal about each other. Another step towards the soulmate thing, right?”

She grabs _Catching Fire_ from the shelf. “Thanks again, by the way,” she says as she opens the case. “For suggesting bringing my siblings together.” She places the disc in the Blu-ray player before looking at Enjolras. “I can't say just how much this means to me.”

Enjolras looks at the photographs of Fantine before meeting Éponine’s gaze. “I'm studying journalism to do some good in the world. So if I don't even help the people around me, I'm not doing my job.”

“Thank you for doing it,” she breathes.

He locks his blue eyes with hers. “You are welcome.”

Éponine finally remembers to actually turn on the television, and watches Enjolras leave the room for a long moment.

* * *

The next nine days pass excruciatingly slowly, but December twenty-third finally arrives.

Gavroche's plane is the first to land in the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Éponine's breath hitches as he runs to launch himself at her while Mr. and Mrs. Williams follow. She has to take a step back as the twelve-year-old tackles her; when she drops a kiss on top of his head, she can't stop smiling even as he tells her that he is too old for public displays of affection.

Bressole and Hugues arrive an hour later, and her youngest brothers are shy at first, hanging close to Ms. Magnon. "You remember your sister," their foster mother says kindly as Éponine bends down.

An eight-year-old Bressole will only look at his eldest sister, but a seven-year-old Hugues finally softly says, "Hello."

"Hello," Éponine replies and can't decide whether she wants to cry or laugh.

Azelma finally walks into the terminal waiting area two hours later straight into her older sister's arms. "I've missed you so much," Éponine says into Azelma's dark hair.

"Me too," Azelma whispers into the elder girl's ear, her chin on Éponine's shoulder as they cling to each other. Éponine sees Gavroche walk forward and feels his thin arms wrap as far as they can reach around his sisters, burying his face in Azelma's side. After a moment of hesitation, Hugues and Bressole slowly approach and join in the huddle. Éponine squeezes her eyes shut and holds her siblings tighter.

The drive to the Valjeans' is as loud as can be expected with three boys under the age of thirteen, and Éponine tries not to dwell on the fact that Bressole and Hugues talk to Gavroche more than they did with her. She focuses on Azelma, swapping stories as Valjean drives in contented silence.

Finally, all three cars filled with Thénardiers, Valjeans, and various foster families arrive and swarm through the front door and spend the next hour coordinating sleeping arrangements in the multiple guest rooms of the Valjeans' sprawling house. Dinner is borderline chaotic, filled with laughter and teasing, but Éponine thinks she wouldn't have it any other way.

That is until Mrs. Davis, Azelma's foster mother, innocently asks, "So Éponine, I see you've met your soulmate."

Éponine freezes and automatically looks down her wrist as if she hasn't been looking it at the silver lion for the past four months.

"Uh, yeah," she says as the adults around the table quiet.

"Where did you meet your soulmate?" Mrs. Davis asks.

Éponine turns red and opens her mouth to respond, but Enjolras answers from the kitchen. "Here in this house."

"Wait." Mrs. Davis looks between Éponine and Enjolras as he returns to the table with extra napkins. Azelma's foster mother's eyes widen. "The two of you are soulmates?"

"Yep," Éponine says awkwardly and wishes the ground would open up beneath her.

"How old are you?" Ms. Magnon asks.

"Eighteen," Éponine replies.

"Twenty," Enjolras says.

"So you're technically foster siblings?" Mr. Williams comments.

"Technically," Enjolras says as Éponine turns red.

"So how is school, Azelma?" Cosette asks smoothly, and Éponine smiles gratefully at her foster sister as Azelma starts to describe the difficulty of her science class.

* * *

"While Cosette's in the shower," Azelma says later that evening, sitting cross-legged on the mattress she and Éponine are sharing on the floor next to Cosette's bed. "I have a question. About Enjolras."

Cheeks flushing, Éponine stops digging through her duffel bag and looks at her sister. "What about him?"

"Well, you seemed embarrassed at dinner when Mrs. Davis brought up soulmates."

"The whole thing is just so…" Éponine bites her lip.

"Awkward?" Azelma supplies.

"To put it mildly." Éponine sighs. "I mean, at least I'm not adopted into his family. _That_ would be really gross. But being foster siblings, we’re vaguely related? Kind of, but not really? I don't know." She picks at the blue-and-white snowflake-adorned nail polish Cosette had so carefully applied the day before. "I mean, why did it have to happen like _this_? I don't have a problem with Enjolras as a person; I mean, I barely know him, but he seems nice enough. But why couldn't I have just met Cosette at school without living with her family because of the system? Or what if I met Enjolras on a college tour of Louisiana State or something? Just _anything_ other than how it's turning out."

"I take it you haven't talked with him that much."

"We met when he came home from college on a weekend. Our soulmate marks changed, and he left the next morning. We did talk about, you know, _propriety_ and stuff like that, and he promised to give me space. And he did. He only came home four times during the entire semester. Three if you don’t count Christmas break."

Azelma bites the inside of her cheek. "Can I see your soulmate mark?"

Éponine holds out her arm, and her sister looks at the silver lion. After a moment, Azelma says, "What's his mark? The one that represents you?"

"A wolf," Éponine says. At Azelma's thoughtful smile, the older girl raises an eyebrow. "What?"

"A wolf suits you."

Éponine reaches for her sister's arm. "What's your mark again?"

As Éponine looks at the black cat on the younger girl's skin, Azelma quietly asks, "What happens when you meet your soulmate? What's it like? "

“It burns, but not for long,” Éponine explains. “It hurts for a moment, but the pain goes away quickly. It sort of fades into silver.” She hears Cosette turn off the shower in her bathroom behind the door. "We should probably go to bed."

As they adjust the blankets and sheets and pillows on the mattress, Azelma asks, "I wonder what my soulmate's mark looks like?"

"Finding and dealing with a soulmate is hard enough without figuring that out," Éponine says as a coughing Cosette opens the bathroom door. Azelma doesn't say anything in reply, and Éponine wonders if she has been too abrupt. "Your soulmate probably has something sweet." She looks up as her foster sister goes to her closet. "Cosette's met her soulmate," Éponine says, trying to ignore the faint pang in her chest as she thinks about Marius. The pain is getting duller, though.

"Really? Can I see your mark?" Azelma asks.

"Of course," Cosette says, sitting on the edge of the mattress and holding out her arm for Azelma to see the silver Labrador Retriever. "Marius has a lark."

Éponine looks at the clock on Cosette's nightstand. "It's almost midnight."

"We should probably turn in," Cosette says, getting into bed as Azelma and Éponine settle in. "It's great to have you here, Azelma."

"Again, thank you _so_ much for having me and our brothers and all of our foster families."

Cosette reaches for her lamp, coughing again. "You and your brothers are always welcome. Goodnight, ladies."

"Thanks. And goodnight," Azelma replies.

"Night," Éponine offers.

The room is plunged into darkness.


	4. December 24 - December 25

Chapter 4

* * *

_December 24 – December 25_

* * *

"You know what we should all do?" Cosette announces, sneezing lightly as Éponine helps her clear the dinner table the next evening. "Caroling."

"Caroling?"

Éponine's foster sister looks up at Enjolras' voice, who sets down the stack of plates he had been gathering from around the table. "Remember, we used to carol while Mom was–"

Cosette falters, and she breaks eye contact with her brother. "Anyway," she continues gamely to Éponine, "we haven't gone out for years. I think we should start the tradition again." Valjean walks into the room, reaching for a platter, and his daughter asks, "Dad, what do you think about going caroling? Just down our block?"

Éponine wonders if she should be observing such a sensitive family conversation as Valjean pauses, platter in hand, and finally says with a wistful smile, "Excellent idea." Cosette smiles as her father drops a kiss on her golden head and goes into the kitchen.

Éponine focuses on collecting silverware and keeps her focus on the tablecloth as Cosette, coughing once more, asks Enjolras, "What do you think?"

"If you want to go, I won't stop you. But I have things I need to work on for school and… other things. And I don't sing."

Éponine escapes into the kitchen with her handful of silverware.

Her siblings and their foster families, however, wholeheartedly support the idea. As everyone bundles into coats and hats and gloves, Éponine stands by the hall closet, wrapping a scarf borrowed from Cosette around her neck. She awkwardly makes eye contact with Enjolras across the room as he glances up from his laptop, but then they hear Cosette’s voice carry from upstairs.

"Hey Marius!" A pause. "Merry Christmas to you too." She clears her throat. "I have a question. Are you doing anything tonight? I was wondering if you want to go caroling–" She stops, coughing. "Oh, really?" she said, the lightness in her voice almost convincing. "No, it's totally fine. Family is important. I understand." She pauses again. "I love you too. Have a good Christmas Eve."

When Cosette comes down the stairs, looking at her iPhone with a sigh, Enjolras walks purposefully to the hall closet and reaches past Éponine to pull a black coat from a hanger.

Éponine sees Cosette’s face light up as she stops at the foot of the stairs. "Enjolras?" He turns to his sister, pulling a green beanie over his bright curls; Éponine finds herself thinking that he should wear the color more often, and immediately wonders why that thought surfaced.

"We should get going before it gets any colder."

Cosette puts her iPhone in the pocket of her pink North Face and smiles at her brother's words.

As they herd Éponine's brothers out the door into the lightly-falling snow, she hangs back with Cosette. "I heard you calling Marius, " Éponine begins.

"Yeah…" Cosette fiddles with the zipper of her coat. "He's busy celebrating Christmas Eve with his grandfather, aunt, and cousin."

"Oh."

"He wanted to come, but…" The other girl smooths her snow-dampened hair with a gloved hand. "His grandfather's pretty strict." Cosette sniffs, plastering a smile on her face. "Ready to sing cheesy Christmas songs to Javert?"

"Do you think he'll actually open the door?" Éponine muses.

"I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t."

Javert indeed looks like he wished he hadn't opened his door, as they stand on his front steps and walkway and yard completely void of Christmas decorations. As the group begins _Jingle Bells_ to keep Éponine's brothers' energy going, she hears a quiet but clear tenor voice behind her and glances over her shoulder to see Enjolras singing, the snow starting to plaster the curls escaping his beanie to his forehead. She turns around quickly, but privately enjoys listening to his voice as her brothers mix up the lyrics and Ms. Magnon sings off-key.

The moment they finish the song, a stone-faced Javert holds up a hand. "Thank you," he says stiffly. "I have something in the oven that I must check on."

He shuts the door as they chorus "Merry Christmas" to him.

Éponine smirks, but her smile slips when Cosette says with a sneeze, "It looks like he's alone for Christmas Eve."

"That sucks," Azelma offers as they walk down the snowy sidewalk away from Javert's house. There are only a couple of lights on in the entire building.

"Hey Dad!" Cosette, coughing, says across the group. "We should invite him over for Christmas."

"I'll do that on the way back around the block," Valjean replies. "Good thinking."

At the next house, Éponine ends up standing next to Enjolras as they sing _Have A Holly Jolly Christmas_ , and she makes the mistake of glancing at Enjolras when they all sang the stanza about mistletoe. She can't look him in the eye until two houses later.

To no one's surprise, Javert does not open the door when they ring the doorbell again.

* * *

Her cheeks still burn the next morning when she finds herself sitting next to Enjolras around the tree, while wrapping paper is torn, bows are tossed, and tissue paper flies.

"How did you know?" Valjean asks Éponine, holding up Victor Hugo’s _The Hunchback of Notre-Dame_.

"I heard you mention once that you wanted to have it in your collection," she replies as Cosette, blowing her nose in a tissue, leans over to admire the book's cover.

Éponine passes Cosette's gift across the room; as her foster sister removes the paper to reveal Sharmadean Reid's _The WAH Nails Book of Nail Art_ , she quips, "Now you don't have to rely on confusing instructions on Pinterest."

Éponine watches Enjolras as he cracks a rare smile at her mug with _a caffeinated writer is a happy writer_ printed in black on the white ceramic.

“I needed another coffee mug,” he says. “My roommate broke the last one I had. Thank you.”

Her gift from Cosette is a scrapbooking kit, to which Éponine privately notes that she has never scrapbooked a day in her life but thanks the other girl anyway. Her present from Enjolras is a scrapbook itself, and she wonders where her foster family got the idea that she likes crafting.

But then the box from Valjean reveals a digital Olympus OM-D EM-5 camera.

“It was Enjolras' idea,” Cosette explains. “So you could have something to remember your siblings by when you’re apart. And somewhere to keep them, since you don't have a phone.”

Éponine stares at Enjolras for a long moment, and her voice cracks when she says, “Thank you.”

“You're welcome,” he replies in a low voice.

Throat closing up, Éponine looks up at the picture frames on the mantle above the roaring fireplace as Gavroche opens a neon-hued water gun from Enjolras.


	5. December 26 – January 15

* * *

_December 26 – January 15_

* * *

The day after Christmas, Cosette’s cold gets even worse.

Éponine spends the remaining time with her family taking photos, candid and posed and blurry and red-eyed, but all of the pictures in the world cannot ease the heaviness in her heart as they drive to the airport on December twenty-seventh. Hugues and Bressole actually let Éponine hug them both; Gavroche pretends to be nonchalant until Mr. and Mrs. Williams start walking away, and he runs back to wrap his arms around his eldest sister as tight as he can. Azelma lingers the longest, hugging Éponine until Mrs. Davis reminds the younger girl that they might miss their flight if they wait any longer. Azelma finally lets Éponine go, promising to call, and finally walks away through the airport with her foster mother.

Éponine stares out the window the entire drive home.

On December twenty-eighth, she starts using Valjean’s photo printer and attempts to put together the first few pages of the scrapbook. Her first attempts aren’t perfect, but the memories her photos hold make up for any aesthetic mistakes.

On the twenty-ninth, Éponine lets Cosette practice from the nail art book on her hands, but then her foster sister starts coughing so hard Éponine wonders if Cosette will be able talk louder than a rasp if her cold keeps going at this strength.

On the thirtieth, Éponine gets a papercut on the scrapbook paper. Sucking in a breath through her teeth, she leaves her desk, presses a tissue to the cut, and heads for the kitchen to look for a Band-Aid. She is rifling through the box of first aid supplies when Enjolras walks into the room with an empty coffee mug.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Using only one hand while holding the tissue to the cut awkwardly with her thumb, she accidentally shakes out a handful of Band-Aids from the flimsy cardboard box and vainly attempts to open one. "It's just a papercut."

"Would you like some help?" he asks, and she can't refuse. Nodding as he sets his mug by the sink, he nimbly opens a Band-Aid, squeezes some Neosporin on the strip, and looks at her carefully. "May I?"

"Go ahead," she says, holding out her right hand and pulling away the blood-flecked tissue from the cut with her left. The silver lion on her skin catches the light as he gently curls his fingers around her wrist, wrapping the Band-Aid around her finger.

Éponine draws in a breath through her nose that has nothing to do with the mild pain.

“Thanks,” she mummers as he releases her wrist. Her heart rate quickens at the sight of the wolf on his skin.

“You’re welcome,” he says seriously, meeting her gaze, and she can’t look away. Then his phone vibrates, and she takes the opportunity to go back to her room, heart pounding.

* * *

On the thirty-first, Éponine checks her email on Cosette’s iPad to find a message from Montparnasse.

_Hey Ép,_

_Just wondering where you ended up after all these years. I’m still in Seattle. We had some good memories there. At least I do. I was wondering if you wanted to get together for New Years. You should be about eighteen now, right?_

_Montparnasse_

She deletes the email.

As she erases his message from the deleted items file, she knows she would have met him for New Year’s any other time, if he had asked. But now –

She traces the silver lion on her wrist with a fingertip.

* * *

“Hey, Cosette?”

That evening, Éponine walks into her foster sister’s room to see Cosette burrowed under a mountain of blankets, crumpled tissues filling in the trashcan by the bed.

“Éponine?” the blonde rasps, peering at the other girl over the edge of a quilt.

“I brought you more tea.”

“Thanks.” Cosette props herself up on an elbow as Éponine sets down the mug on the nightstand.

“I assume you’re not watching TV tonight.”

“Nope.” Cosette sniffs. “I was about to turn off my light.”

“I’ll let you sleep, then,” Éponine says as her foster sister lifts the steaming mug to her lips. “Can I borrow your iPad again?”

“Go ahead.” As Éponine grabs the pink iPad from Cosette’s desk, the blond adds, “Thanks again for the tea.”

Éponine smiles. “Sleep well.”

Shutting Cosette’s bedroom door behind her, Éponine heads down to the living room where Valjean and Enjolras are discussing the upcoming semester at Louisiana State. Curling up into the armchair, Éponine opens the safari app on the iPad and signs into Hotmail, hoping for an message from her siblings. Another email from Montparnasse sits unread at the top of her inbox.

She deletes the message without reading it and sets aside the iPad to stare unseeing at the television.

“Éponine?”

She looks up at Valjean’s voice to see her foster father and foster brother watching her. “Yes?”

“Everything alright?”

She almost lies, but sighs instead. “Not really.”

“Anything we can do?”

She shakes her head. “I have it handled.” Éponine manages a thin smile. “Thanks.”

“If you’re sure,” Valjean says, and Éponine nods. “Well, I should head upstairs,” her foster father adds.

“You’re not going to watch the ball drop in New York City?”

“I have to work in the morning,” Valjean explains. “Goodnight.”

“‘Night.”

“Goodnight,” Enjolras offers as Valjean leaves the room.

The next two hours pass in relative quiet, the only sound coming from the low volume on the television and the keyboard of Enjolras’ laptop as he types steadily. Éponine dozes in the armchair until the chanted countdown begins, and she blinks blearily at the glowing screen. With five seconds left until the end of the year, Éponine risks a glance at Enjolras. If she had met up with Montparnasse tonight, he would be shoving his tongue down her throat by now. But her soulmate only gazes at her across the room.

“Happy New Year,” Enjolras mummers as the crowd on the screen erupts into cheers. He closes his laptop and gets up to unplug the charger, and she impulsively stands.

“Enjolras–”

The light from the television shades the lines of his face, and she loses her nerve.

“Happy New Year,” is all she whispers.

* * *

He is starting to pack for Louisiana State the next morning when she hovers outside his bedroom door. “Enjolras?”

He turns. “Yes?”

Éponine shoves her hands in the pockets of her old jeans. “Can we talk?”

He straightens from bending over his suitcase. “Of course.”

She leans against the doorframe. “So about the whole soulmate thing.” She bites her lip. “I know I haven’t exactly been… enthusiastic about it. But after what you did in getting my siblings here,” she says, and pauses before letting out a soft, mirthless laugh under her breath. “And you went out of your way to give me space in your home, and even the scrapbook…” She trails off, running a hand through her hair, and finally meets his gaze. “All of that meant a lot. Especially you getting my siblings here for the holidays. That meant the world to me.” She hesitates. “No one’s ever done anything like that for me.”

She draws in a breath through her nose, and he waits.

“What I’m trying to say is, well, maybe we can try the soulmate thing,” she says carefully, swallowing hard. It’s been a very long time since she’s opened up to anyone like this, but after all he did for her, maybe…

Maybe it’s worth it.

The corner of his mouth turns up. “If you want to.” She nods. “We should probably try to get to know each other first, as friends, before…”

She manages a smile. “Probably.” She then extends her hand, a slip of paper in her fingers. “Here’s my email,” she offers. “I don’t have a phone, so…”

He takes the paper. “I’ll email you my address,” he says, and she releases the breath she didn’t know she was holding.

* * *

On January fifteenth, Enjolras drives back to Louisiana State.

At ten that evening, Éponine lays in bed and stares at the celling, unable to sleep even though her last semester of high school starts in the morning. A whistle comes from the iPad she had forgotten to return to Cosette. Lifting the device from her nightstand, she sees the number of unread emails in Cosette’s app, and opens the safari app to check her own account. There are two unread messages in her inbox - one is from Montparnasse, but the other is from evaljean@hotmailcom. She automatically deletes Montparnasse’s demands as to why she did not reply, and opens Enjolras’ email.

In the light of the iPad, the lion on her wrist glows.


End file.
